L-R: Ed Harcourt, Baby Gramps, Sandy Dillon, Gavin Friday When Hal Willner takes the stage dressed as a pirate to introduce wily mountain man Baby Gramps, the show ahead is guaranteed to be out of the ordinary. After the third or fourth performer, the artists got tired of calling "ahoy!" and growling "arrrrgh," but it made the evening no less nautical. Running nearly four hours with no interval, the show was something of a test......

Enjoy a night of pirate-themed revelry without the risk of scurvy. On Monday, 28 July, the Barbican will be hosting Rogue's Gallery -- Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys as part of their Only Connect series. The evening will feature songs from the two disc compilation of the same name, the brainchild of Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and produced by Hal Willner. Some songs maintain a more traditional,......

London's literary hotspots are Bloomsbury, London Fields and... Battersea. Just how literary this particular part of town tucked away in the shadows of Clapham Junction is shown off to full effect in the SW11 Literary Festival. Starting on 11 September and ending 2 October, big names will flood the area for readings, book signings, workshops, literary lunches, quizzes and... stuff. This festival is described as an "opportunity to meet people who write books, who......

Sometime on Sunday evening Hunter S Thompson took his own life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. That's as far away from London as you can imagine but we feel that we would be lacking as writers if we failed to mention the good doctor's passing. Through our formative years Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas provided a unique window on America and later we began......